The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program. The object of the breeding program was to select and reproduce Tradescantia spathaceae nana plants with brighter variegation of the leaves and improved plant forms. The new variety was discovered as a naturally occurring whole plant mutation in a grouping of more than 100 plants, of the parent variety, an unnamed, unpatented selection of Tradescantia spathaceae nana. The new variety was first noted as a whole plant mutation in January 2005. The new variety was discovered by Ashish Arvind Hansoti in January 2005 at a commercial greenhouse near Mumbai, India.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘SITARA GOLD’ by vegetative tip cuttings was first performed at a commercial greenhouse outside of Mumbai, India in April of 2005 and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type on successive generations. Approximately 12 generations have been reproduced.